Less is more, organic agriculture!

Dar,

I planted in raised beds because my native soil was so rocky and poor it couldn't grow good Bermuda grass. Over the years, I have dug into my raised beds and down into the native soil to see of the soil beneath the raised beds has changed much. It has. I don't understand the process, but somehow the humus has progressed about three inches into the native soil.

I've seen healthy tomato plants grow from seed in the cracks between concrete slabs. I've had volunteer plants grow around my garden in spots where they received no additional water and no additional nutrients and they performed well. They do have an amazing root system but I don't think transplants have the deep tap root that volunteer plants possess.

Ted

[dice]

[deeper soil]
Tough tap roots are a good way to loosen soil deeper down than
the top six inches. Cover crops with deep root systems in general
raise the organic matter content and fertility of the deeper soil.

Something like caliche or red gumbo clay is going to require
special treatment. In "Root Development of Field Crops", they
found that clover and alfalfa roots that would go down 10
feet in looser base soils would turn at the caliche layer in
soils with caliche under the top layer and spread out sideways
instead of going deeper.

In heavy clay, the plants simply need more energy to grow any inch
of root than they do in soils with more large pore air space. I do
not suppose the waterlogging in rainy conditions in those soils would
affect rice much, but in the southern US, a lot of farmers with that
kind of soil grow other crops in hipped up rows to allow the rainwater
to drain into the furrows.

From the mention of "furrows" in the description of the SRI method,
it sounds like they are doing something similar to allow the seedlings
to establish a larger root system before the paddies are flooded.

[OldHondaNut]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-dev...ers-revolution

I read this but really didn't get a "how to" from it. It looks like that Japanese method "Fukishima" or something like that. They toss leaves and stems over the ground and let it improve itself. For clay soils, this does not seem to improve very deep.

As far as going deep, a rototiller almost never goes more than 6 inches. I use a spade and get 12 inches. If you wanted to go deeper, a post hole digger would work but it would be a lot to ask from my back.

[Got Worms?]

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

I read this but really didn't get a "how to" from it. It looks like that Japanese method "Fukishima" or something like that. They toss leaves and stems over the ground and let it improve itself. For clay soils, this does not seem to improve very deep.

As far as going deep, a rototiller almost never goes more than 6 inches. I use a spade and get 12 inches. If you wanted to go deeper, a post hole digger would work but it would be a lot to ask from my back.

I think you may be referring to Masanobu Fukuoka, the "One Straw Revolution". Fukushima would be Japan's Nuclear disaster. Two extremes, with very dissimilar outcomes.
Charlie